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158 Chapter 5

Types of Communities
All communities share some basic characteristics, regardless of the type of community.
Wenger (1998) identifi es these as joint enterprise (a common goal), mutual engage-
ment (commitment by all members), and shared repertoire (typically a virtual work-
space for all members to be able to interact with one another) see ( fi gure 5.6 ).
Joint enterprise refers to the glue that binds members together — why they want to
interact with one another. Reasons for interacting with one another will typically be
a personal goal and contribution toward the community ’ s goal. Mutual engagement
refers to how members become part of the community. They do not automatically
belong because they say so, because they have a certain job title, or because they know
someone. There are membership rules and each member agrees to carry out certain
roles and responsibilities in order to help achieve the goals of the CoP. Finally, a shared
repertoire refers to the shared workspace where members can communicate, where
they can store and share knowledge products, their profi les, and so on. The shared
repertoire is typically space on a server — it may be an intranet within an organization

Typically the improvement
of members’ profession

Common goal

Commitment Virtual workspace

Participation fueled by A place to store stories,
trust, interest, credibility, artifacts, tools,
professionalism and discussions, glossaries,
ethical behaviors historical events

Figure 5.6
Common characteristics of CoPs (adapted from Wenger 1998 )